So I revealed a possible BBEG early...

[Trey Bright]

I'm running an open world game (or I want it to be as open world as possible) and the players just got a dream from a possible BBEG announcing his pressence to them and stating he'd like to meet them. He also gifted them with a sheet of paper that has a personal mark on it that will lightly charm any law/authority person that would get the players in trouble like town guard if it is presented to them. It will get the players out of trouble and be almost a get out of jail free card. I hoped to use this to set the tone for what kind of individual he is, but a player of mine (tiefling with the alternate from SCAG with wings Paladin Oath of Vengance) immidately decided she liked him and decided she wanted to make him her new deity. Now he's powerful, but he's not deity level. I'm going to give the choice to anyone who wants to bond with/make a pact with this character that they'll receive a free level of Undead Warlock class...I think she'll take him up on it...Here's the thing...they don't know this, but he's known as Darius the Traitor. He kills everyone who learns about him so this title isn't exactly common knowledge, but he actually takes enjoyment in building up a sense of trust/friendship with individuals and then stabbing them in the back and breaking their heart...however.............the young woman playing this PC is someone who I've been seeing. I don't want to do this to her and her character. If she proves an especially devoted and loyal servant to him, I was going to have him allow her to live, and possibly even gift her with immortality in the form of vampirism or some form of magical preservation via necrotic power. The thing is, to do that, she'd have to be so loyal to him, she'd have to be willing to kill all her party members and be completely devoted to him. He was stabbed in the back literally and metaphorically in the past as a mortal, and so now as an extremely powerful immortal, he doesn't place trust in anyone and has grown to actually take physical pleasure in hurting/betraying others...what do I do? Do I let my personal feelings change how this character might normally act towards a PC? Or should I have him strike her down when the time comes in the future? (For reference, they're only level 3 so this problem hopefully shouldn't arise for at least 10 more levels...still...)

[MrStabby]

Just look back to what you agreed at session zero.

Did you say it was a campaign involving some intrigue where not everyone can be trusted? If so - deliver it. Did you say it was a campaign where characters could die? If so, deliver it.

If you need a way out, make investigation of this guy a theme of the campaign. Let the PC discover the true nature of her patron before he tries to kill her so she can enlist the rest of the party and indeed they can use her as bait for a trap.

[Quoz]

Sounds like a Star Wars style Sith Master/apprentice relationship. Train and mentor an apprentice until they are able to best you and take your place. If they reach a plateau and they won't be capable of overcoming the master, they must be destroyed so a new apprentice can take place.

You've got a while to develop this. Go slow, have him plant small ways to give tastes of power and split her from the party. Send enemies she will really want to kill, where the rest of the party would be conflicted. Give dream sequences and instructions for side objectives in your other quests - steal this item, injure that bystander, plant a treasure map for your other players to find. Make it very conspiratorial.

After you develop the base relationship, put her in a compromised position where her actions harm the party objective but they don't know it's her action that caused it. If she doesn't confess it, you are getting close to time for real betrayals.

Finally you get to the point of no return, where you force a reveal. It doesn't have to be attacking other players, but maybe destroying their end goal. Use the party's success to get close to and assassinate a noble the rest of the party likes, or a similar level betrayal. Whether she accepts or balks, this should set up the final conflict either way.

If you want to pursue this type of plotline, I would strongly suggest you have an out of character one-on-one to lay guidelines. It can almost become a co-gm situation where you lay out what they know and what information the master is providing. Just a few updates between sessions to make sure you are both on the same page.

Good luck! Conspiracy can be tricky to pull off but when it works it is one of the most satisfying experiences as a GM.

[Unoriginal]

Don't let your feelings get on the way.

If any other character was in this situation, would you be asking yourself those questions?

If this character is in any other troubles of the same kind, like a cunning thief lying to her and the party to further their own agenda and planning to betray them, would you ask yourself those questions?

If the character was in a different kind of troubles, like the group wandered into a dragon's lair and she was about to be killed by the dragon, would you be asking yourself those questions?

Please don't privilege a character because you have feelings for the player. It's not fair for the other players, and it's not fair for the player you have feeling for. They both deserve a non-biased arbiter of the game and setting, and the one you have feeling for does not deserve to be patronized by having training wheels glued to her because the DM don't want her to fall.


You should probably have NPCs or other hints indicate that Mr Dream Guy is bad news. Especially if those NPCs don't seem trustworthy at first (some could even be bad guys themselves), but it helps establish the BBEG as someone who tried the whole "decieve and betray" before.

Also, concerning the Warlock Pact stuff: remember that by default, once the Patron has given the spark of power, the Patron has no more influence or power over the Warlock. It's an one-time-gift that the Patron can't take back. It's up to the Patron to demand a service beforehand or add other parts of the Pact like "I give you power, you have to serve me X number of time"

[the_brazenburn]

To be honest, this is the exact reason why you shouldn't play with your boy/girlfriend. DMs usually give them some sort of favoritism. Not to offend you; I don't have any evidence that you do or don't do that.

To answer your question, you should have your villain stab her in the back anyway. In fact, do it even harder than you planned to, so that your other players know that you aren't favoring your girlfriend and that the villain is a serious danger.

Disclaimer: I am not in a relationship, so my advice might seem a bit harsh. I'm sure I would have difficulty going through with my schemes if they hurt somebody I liked (probably).

[Callin]

Stick to the plan but allow her the small chance to figure out that the betrayal is coming. Like watch him betray another loyal servant using her as his sword. Stuff like that. That way when it does happen its all "Well ya knew what you were getting into" Scorpion and the Frog type deal ya know.

[kivzirrum]

To be honest, this is the exact reason why you shouldn't play with your boy/girlfriend. DMs usually give them some sort of favoritism. Not to offend you; I don't have any evidence that you do or don't do that.

Oh, I dunno--personally, I feel it's easy to avoid this if you remember your SO probably doesn't want to be singled out for preferential treatment. I know if I favored my partner's character over those of our friends, he'd be very displeased with me :smalltongue:

Anyway, I must echo the words of those who counsel against treating different players differently based on out-of-game relationships. If this person is mature, they won't let something bad happening in-game to affect things out of game, not if they knew the kind of campaign they were getting into (which hopefully came up during session 0).